Porta Potty Travel Qeury

David. The past week I had a Thetford 145 in my van under bed. Initially charged with chemical and 14 litres above. Over the week, minimal use not much water flush was used but plenty in lower. Starting out again I would only fill top at half or 1/3 because that can be added anytime. Travelled well on bumpy roads no dramas.

David P40, Hi. We cart ours around in a compartment shared with one milk crate and a rectangular bucket.
Compartment is not fully sealed and never had an issue to date.
I guess as long as the seals are in good condition and not free to move around too much.
We have driven home numerous occasions e.g. a few hundred k's dirt tracks bitumen with no problems.
Hope that Helps. Ray.

I took a porta potti to the Big Red Bash, back in 2015, and turned out to be a wise addition, considering the lack of sufficient toilets provided that year. Early on the morning after the event, I headed to Birdsville & disposed of the "loaded" section's contents at the dump point. Glad I had an LED floodlight on the ute so I could see what was going on!

The lower chamber didn't leak(Phew!!!), but the upper chamber seemed to splash a little water about on the 35km trip from Big Red back to the dump point, just south of Birdsville.

Bob

In our ensuite we screwed a box to the floor that the potato fits into. The top of the box is no higher than the top of the bottom unit. This stops the portion from tipping over which it did once on a rough road section when the bottom was empty and top full. It also will catch any spills.
Tony

We carry a 365 in our Tvan. (It wedges in nicely between the bed & the tent canvas which holds it securely in all off road conditions). It had never occurred to me to not carry flushing water in the top tank. Only thing is in rough conditions the water can find it's way past the filler cap (which could have been designed to seal better), but not in large quantities. We keep the loo in a custom made canvas bag with strapping handles which makes it easier for two people to lift, as well as containing any minor water spillage). To reduce any top tank spillage we generally only fill it 2/3rds full to travel.

As far as chemical go, we don't put any in the top tank, & certainly don't use any of the Thetford chemicals (or similar) in the bottom tank, as we find the chemical smell offensive - worse than the 'deposits' we make.

We do however use sodium Percarbonate (generic napisan with the highest precentage of SP - usually around 30%) at a rate of a level teaspoonful per 'deposit', & try not to use the toilet for urine if we can. The mix of urine & 'solids' creates a stronger smell. Without urine & with SP all is manageable, & far nicer than using the commercial chemicals. Thetford does suggest that the pink additive into the top tank helps to lubricate the seal, but a little olive oil directly onto the seal once in a while has worked well for us for years.

Carrying a fully loaded loo is not a problem, although having said that we do try to empty it after 4 days use if we can. It's not full, but can start to become a little wiffy especially in hot weather. There are often no dump points where we like to travel, & in those circumstances we look for easy digging ground away from water courses & get the shovel out to dig a hole of reasonable depth to dispose & cover the contents

We used to have a cub hard floor camper, got a mate to make us up an aluminium box for the draw bar, to store the toot in its own box, used the box as our cook top when closed, for quick overnight stops, was an absolute pearler of a set up.. found if we didn’t over fill the top tank, it would never spill.. we are another for the nappy san, that’s all we have ever used.. won’t go camping without the 365 now... best thing we have ever brought.. cheers O

We've carried ours for years, both "loaded" and unloaded, with no problems.
Mind you, we did bump into one guy who had rolled his TVan on a rough track, with an untethered portaloo inside - punched out the side window and made a bit of a mess.
But the TVan, being the great unit it is, was still mobile if a somewhat dinged.

We carry two cassettes, (caravan) so if one is full without opportunity to empty, we chuck it in a double bin liner and do our best to fill number two cassette with number 2s.

Buy 2x cassettes or porta-potties and just carry the spare “receiving” part. Weighs next to nothing. You might never need it but it but you won’t have to drive the length of the Stuart Hwy clutching your buttocks.

I never fill the top tank but leave it on to save old knees..
After doing the biz I poke down the sticky bits with toilet paper.
Then shut the slide valve and pour water from a bottle just enough to get a mobile slurry going and using more toilet paper wipe it around round.
When she's clean, open the valve and let it join the rest.
Use hand sanitiser for hygiene.

This is an extreme method for when spending prolonged time in Oz deserts and is obviously not for all.

I'm currently using nappy san type products for smell mitigation.

You don't really need to bring potable water, any clean-ish water you can source locally will do, especially when you think about where it is going.

My loo gets wedged in the back corner of the ute top camper. Hasn't leaked, despite some some abuse on cape York (both from the roads and me).

I hardly put any water in the top tank when traveling as I found it would vent through the flush nozzle and fill up the bowl. Then there is the whole 'Is it, or isn't it' when you're lifting it out and wear the leakage.

A bit of pre-trip preparation, consisting of a couple of coats of silicone spray in the bowl and you pretty much don't have to flush as everything is sufficiently lubricated and finds its way into the lower tank.

In the bottom tank I start off with only a liter or two of water and a cap full of the cheapest nappy sanitiser you can get (black and gold or aldi stuff is good), which tends to have more sodium per-carbonate than the expensive stuff.

I think 4 days was the longest I got between empties, and being in the tropics and seeing the state of the long drops, I rolled into Coen and up to the pit expecting a horror show. Surprisingly paper, pee and poo was just a pretty much odor free brown slurry that rinsed away easily.

I would never buy the specialist chemicals again and save the extra water for hand washing.